


These days have shown

by Reikah



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M, Post-Canon, Surrogacy, horribly sappy & completely self-indulgent happily ever after story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-05
Packaged: 2020-03-01 01:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18789811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reikah/pseuds/Reikah
Summary: Post-series: Kurogane, Fai, and the resettling of Suwa province.The majordomo was still speaking. "Of course," he said, "there is the topic of your wife," and suddenly Fai was very much paying attention.





	These days have shown

**Author's Note:**

> Some folks on the LJ clampkink meme requested Fai & Kurogane resettling Suwa. I sort of stole this idea and turned it into a horribly self-indulgent sappy kidfic, because _that is how I roll_. Title from the equally sappy Vienna Teng song, _Lullaby for a Stormy Night_.

It is late morning when the peddler wakes him up, not that he'd gotten much sleep. He's wedged in the back of the cart, in between the household goods, his bag tucked under his head and his sword crammed lengthwise, clutched in a tight fist even in sleep. His father would never forgive him if he lost it.

They are stopped at a fork in the main road, the signposts pointing out the numerous directions he can travel in. He doesn't need them; he knows this territory, he grew up here, but after he pays the peddler for the ride he brushes his fingers lightly over the engraving on the sign pointed down the fork: _Suwa village_. He's very close, now.

He is grateful for the time of his arrival: he hadn't planned it, but he won't arrive until midway through the afternoon and his father will be out. He can make his case to the magician who has always been biased toward him, and count on an ally when his father finds out he is back home. Emboldened by this he slings his family sword across his back and sets off down the path, picking a wild apple from a tree as he goes.

Suwa village itself is almost the same as he remembers, and the people who see him greet him with excitement. His return is big news in this sleepy little province; he has been gone a whole year, a year spent in servitude to the Tsukuyomi herself, mixing with the lords and ladies of Shirasagi. 

"I bet you were the best guard she had," one man says happily and he grins back. 

"My father would kill me if I wasn't," he replies, and they laugh as though he weren't being halfway honest. "How have my parents been while I've been gone?"

This draws a variety of responses from the villagers, variants on the theme of "your father's been fierce and brave, the witch he married has been useful but strange". He just smiles. This is normal.

"Did you show them your Suwa steel?" asks the blacksmith, gesturing at his sword, and he nods. It was made for his father out of the finest steel and it is a work of art; when he was given it to take to court he thought he would die of pride.

"Lord Suwa's son is back!" the children yell, dancing around him and urging him to play. He grabs them and hefts them by way of greeting, holding a little girl upside down. He is seventeen now, and the princess' guard, too old for games, so he play wrestles with them the way his father and the other adults had done with him when he was little, and they tag at his heels all the way to the gate of the Suwa home itself. 

He avoids the practice yard and instead sneaks in from the side, through the vegetable garden. This too has changed; he sees plants here he doesn't recognize, labeled in the strange looping script of the village's mage. The house seems different, too, smaller somehow, but it smells familiar: woodsmoke and pine and magic, old scents, safe scents. He pulls his boots off and pauses just inside the door, breathing it in.

Kyoto's court is great and majestic, but Suwa will always be home. 

He keeps his sword on him as he makes his way as quietly as he can, barefoot, through the house. The door to the shrine is ajar and he pokes his head in, then smiles when he sees the keeper of the house kneeling before it, back to him, lighting incense with practiced hands and wearing an old yukata of his father's. It's black, as are all his father's things, and way too big for the slim figure; it slips almost off one shoulder.

"I'm home," he says, and the kneeling figure pauses and then turns, shooting him a gentle smile by way of greeting, eyes warm and welcoming despite the unnerving colours.

"Welcome back, Ryuuichi," says Fai.

* * *

"We're so happy you're resettling Suwa," said the Majordomo, unrolling scrolls across the table with little regard for the things already on it. Fai had to make a grab and catch one of the delicate cups before something could happen to it. "Obviously we will be looking at building from scratch, for structural integrity. I have here some notes from some of Kyoto's finest craftsmen you should see."

Kurogane bent over the scrolls, his eyebrows drawing together, and Fai leaned back from the kotatsu, sipping at his tea. This was a closed world to him, numbers and building costs, and although he spoke the language now their words slipped past him nonetheless. Kurogane kept asking him his opinion, and he appreciated what the man was trying to do - to involve him, to make it their home instead of his - he was content with either. He was happy enough to go where Kurogane went. 

He had suspected that when Kurogane asked him to return to Nihon the ninja had not meant to court, although they had spent four long years here in Shirasagi, learning how to adapt to a home that would not vanish under their feet. Four years before Kurogane's restlessness led to a conversation with Tomoyo about the fate of Suwa province; four years leading up to _this_ , Kurogane's chance at last to return home for real.

The majordomo was still speaking. "Of course," he said, "there is the topic of your wife," and suddenly Fai was very much paying attention.

"No," Kurogane said flatly.

"I am not proposing you end your relationship with our esteemed visitor," the majordomo replied politely. Neither of them tried to keep it a secret. Fai wore furisodes in public, and they shared sleeping quarters. "It is not uncommon for such to go on during a marriage. Your lady wife will know this going into it. You will need an heir, and -"

"No," said Fai, quietly but firmly. He sipped his tea and Kurogane smirked at him from across the table. The majordomo pursed his lips, but Fai just watched him, impassive. He could not bend on this, he would never bend on this, and he was making that clear.

"... We shall, I think, discuss the issue of an heir later," said the man eventually, tucking his list underneath the building plans. Fai smiled his victory, no doubt short-lived as it was.

"It won't go away, you know," he said later that night, and Kurogane bared his teeth at him in annoyance. Fai bent down, licking at some of the sweat from his lover's exposed throat. 

"You really think now is the time for this?" Kurogane asked, his oversized hands settling on Fai's skin, one on his ass and the other on his back. Kurogane's thighs were heavy over his shoulders and Fai turned and pressed his nose to the skin there, milky and soft, the only part of Kurogane that was.

Fai smiled at him, a wolverine smile all glee and sharpness, and Kurogane growled. "Perhaps not," he said, and then there was sweat and skin and the blissful sensation of seeing a side of Kurogane nobody else ever would. 

The topic didn't go away, however, and he was still thinking about it after their lovemaking had ended, lying on his belly sticky and sated in their futon, with Kurogane's arm heavy over his back and his snores stirring his hair. He turned his face against the pillow and eyed Kurogane thoughtfully in the moonlight, lying there so still one might almost mistake him for dead were it not for his rattling snores. They were something Fai treasured; Kurogane only snored when he was truly relaxed, and Fai loved knowing he'd caused them.

He wondered if Kurogane wanted kids, if he ever had. Fai found himself missing Syaoran and Sakura all the more nowadays; it had been years since he saw them last outside of his dreams. 

Kurogane would need an heir, but Fai would never be the other man, the dirty little secret. They had both bled and sweated and lost too much for their relationship to be reduced to a illegitimate thing conducted behind some stranger's back. Perhaps adoption would suffice, or a bastard child, if Kurogane could be persuaded to have a hand in its conception. He would have to remember to ask Tomoyo in the morning.

Either way, he wouldn't be leaving Kurogane's side.

* * *

For the first time in his life, Kurogane found himself cursing his own romantic skills as he stomped down to the practice ground. He had been too busy learning to kill to learn how to woo women, which had suited him fine - still suited him fine, actually - but did mean he _didn't know that many women_.

Tomoyo had said his heir would have to be of his blood to work for the other noblemen in court, since his house had never been particularly powerful or influential. Suwa had always kept to itself, training strong warriors and keeping out of its more powerful neighbours' wars; but the land it had been built on would be quite valuable once the rubble was cleared and people began to settle there again, planting crops and raising livestock. This was distinctly a problem.

He could always try to hire a woman for this purpose, but he was too aware every bit of gold he gave her would be coming out of the money he needed to purchase wood and steel and coal and sand and manpower for his home. A wife was out of the question; he had no interest in lying or pretending he cared about anyone other than Fai, and he did not particularly want to subject a noblewoman to a life trapped in an unfulfilling marriage and know he was responsible for it, not when he remembered what it had been to grow up with parents who loved each other.

This left his female friends, and here was where his utter lack of interest in anything but killing had left him: just three women in his life, two of them royal. The third was out in the yard practicing throwing shuriken at a sack of coloured sand, but she looked up when she saw him approach.

"Well," Souma said. "What's with the intimidating look?"

Kurogane made an effort to unclench his jaw and relax his scowl, but his face rebelled. "I need to ask you something," he said.

Souma raised an eyebrow, but jerked her head over at the bench at the end of the practice yard. Two thin adolescents were sitting on it, caressing their swords, but they scattered as soon as Kurogane marched over. "So?" she said, taking a seat. "What is it?"

She patted the bench beside her, but Kurogane did not take her up on the offer, pacing like a caged animal, his hands balling up into fists. "You've heard I'm going back to Suwa," he barked.

"Yeah," she said. "It won't be the same without you. I might get through a whole day without hearing someone bellow 'stop talking, idiot mage!' in a voice loud enough to be heard in _China_."

"Well, he is an idiot," Kurogane said, and then realizing he was getting sidetracked. "Anyway -"

"Or the constant sex," she said. "You must be using fantastic oils, any other man with the sex life you two have would be worrying about the ridiculous chafing of his dick by now."

" _What? What do you mean_ \- that is," Kurogane said, forcing himself to calm down. Souma was smiling at him with teasing in her eyes, and he reminded himself bitterly that she had been Kendappa's lover for years now and thus could mock him all day. He cleared his throat. "I have a problem -"

"Or how you have no idea how to, you know, close the damn door," she continued. "You remember that time you were screwing him in the baths and I came in with the recruits? You have the stupidest orgasm face I've ever seen."

"Are you finished," Kurogane said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, I think so," she said. "You'll notice my finishing face doesn't look like yours. Seriously, last time I saw someone make a face like that he'd been hit on the head with a _rock_." He glared at her. "Anyway, you were saying?" She fixed him with an innocent expression, and he folded his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"I'm going back to Suwa," he said tightly. "And I needed to ask you to consider doing a favor for me."

"Sure," she said. "Depending on the favor. What do you need? A body hidden?"

"No," he said, scowling.

"Something stolen?"

"No!" 

"Well, what then?" she said. "Do you need someone seduced? There's no way you could succeed at the last one."

"I could too," he protested, although he was fairly sure she was right. "No, I..." he hesitated, uncertainly, and then drew himself up and sucked in a breath. "Could you... Would you... fuck. Look, I wouldn't be asking _you_ this. You're the last person I'd consider freely. But Kendappa and Tomoyo are definitely not available and you're the only one left, okay? We need to have sex," he said seriously. "For a kid."

"Wow, Kurogane," she said, after a pause. "Do you understand the meaning of the term 'lesbian'? Should I spell it out for you, maybe with shadow puppets?"

"Just because you're a lesbian doesn't mean your womb stops working!" he argued, and then paused. "Unless it does. Does it?"

Souma looked at him for several seconds, and said, "Yes. Yes it does. Instead, we grow teeth down there."

"Really?" he said, wide-eyed. He wouldn't put it past Kendappa, but Souma just _looked_ at him and then buried her face in her hands. 

"Your _face_ ," she said, muffled, and he realized she was laughing at him. "Oh gods, your _face_!"

"So you don't really have teeth down there?" he asked suspiciously, and her shoulders started shaking pretty violently.

It took her several minutes to calm down, which Kurogane took to mean she'd been fucking with him. Eventually she lifted her head from her hands, the kohl she wore around her eyes smudged where she'd laughed so hard she'd cried, and said, "your boyfriend already stopped by and told me you needed an heir. He had the sense to bring expensive sake. _Teeth_!" And she was off again.

_I am going to kill him_ , Kurogane thought, seething. "If you already knew, why didn't you say so?" he demanded, and Souma wiped tears from her eyes.

"'cause it's fun watching you squirm," she said. "Why do you think he behaves the way he does toward you?"

"Tch!" Kurogane said, pacing again. "So yes or no?"

"I talked it over with Kendappa last night," she said. "You're lucky I like you, kiddo. Yes, I'll do it, _but_."

"But what," he said, eyeing her, and she gave him a slow smirk not all that different to Fai's.

"Two things," she said. "First thing requires a little bit of explaining. I love Kendappa, I'm devoted to her, and until now I never thought about having kids. Kurogane, you have to promise to look after the kid. Teach him or her how to defend themselves, how to mix with people - your boyfriend can help with that. Keep it safe. And then when it's older, send it here, as a guard. So I can meet it and get to know it myself."

Kurogane nodded, his throat working. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Okay," she said, and smiled. "Second thing was Kendappa's idea," she said. "Suwa used to be famous for its wine, right? You need to resurrect Suwa's vineyards and send us a bunch of your first harvest for free."

"That's it?" Kurogane asked, mentally trying to estimate how much it would cost to repair the scorched and overgrown vineyards. He'd have to get seeds and men to sort out the weeds and till the ground...

"There was no 'that's it' about Suwa wine," Souma said. "They said it was so strong it could knock over a horse."

"Tch," he said, but the corner of his mouth turned up. "You won't get any for a while, you know that, right?"

"We can wait," she told him amiably. "We're glad you're doing this, Kurogane. It will be good to have Suwa thriving again."

"Yeah," Kurogane said, turning to face her in full. She tilted her head up toward him and smiled, and he found his chest seizing at the thought of leaving this castle, these people. Suwa would be worth it, he knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt; his parents would be proud of him. And he would have Fai. But he realized now that the people he would be leaving behind were more than just master or comrades; they were _friends_. 

"Thank you," he said, quietly, and her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "For - for everything."

Her smile said she already knew how he felt.

* * *

He hadn't expected Kurogane back for several hours, and so he had taken himself to their bed with a glass-shielded candle and a stack of projected expense reports, intending to read until he fell asleep. He didn't feel up to much else, and he knew there was no point trying to force himself to sleep; the futon felt far too big and far too cold, and there was a seething, roiling sensation in his belly that he was doing his best to ignore.

So when the door to their rooms slid open and Kurogane made his way inside before he'd even finished with the second report, Fai was surprised enough he dropped them; he sat up, studying his lover cautiously. Kurogane's shoulders were tense, and he didn't look at Fai or offer his usual greeting as he stripped off his plain black yukata, letting it slither down his body to pool on the floor. In the strange mixture of light offered by candle and by the moon outside he looked like some ethereal creature, his long muscles and taut skin making Fai's mouth water, and it took him great effort to force his thoughts away from the low sense of _want_ pooling in his stomach.

"Kuro-sama," he said, keeping his voice light with some effort. "What are you doing back here so early? I thought you would be with Souma for -"

"Well, I'm not," Kurogane replied shortly. He didn't even pick out sleeping wear, which was unlike him; he came right to bed, sliding underneath the covers and stretching out on his back, his arms folded behind his head and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. His jaw was set.

Curiously Fai reached out and laid a hand on his lover's shoulder; when Kurogane didn't shake him off he eeled closer. Kurogane smelled like a stranger still, and it made him scowl, but he forced himself not to be jealous, tucking himself against Kurogane's chest. After a while the big man sighed, long and deep, and unhooked one of his arms from behind his head to run his fingers through Fai's hair.

"What happened?" Fai asked quietly, running his fingers idly over the muscles of Kurogane's chest, only to receive a grunt by way of response. He pushed himself up on one elbow, pressing a kiss lightly to the hollow between Kurogane's collarbones, and his lover sighed softly and tipped his head back. Fai didn't continue the kiss, though; he just subsided, watching Kurogane thoughtfully. "Did something go wrong?" he asked.

Kurogane snorted. "Yeah," he said, and he sounded angry. 

"What was it?" Fai asked patiently.

Kurogane's throat worked for a few seconds, his jaw tensing and his Adam's apple bobbing, and then he said, "It doesn't matter. We didn't get it done. We're trying again tomorrow."

"... Oh," Fai said, tilting his head to one side, feeling the insidious drumbeat of his jealousy in his chest start up again. "Can I ask why?"

Another swallow. Kurogane's eyes darted to either side, unwilling to look at him; Fai sighed and leaned forward, taking Kurogane's chin in his palm and angling his lover's face down for a kiss. It was a gentle one, sweet and slow, but he could feel Kurogane's interest stirring under the covers, and -

Wait. How could he be getting hard again? Hadn't he just -?

"Oh," he said, as realization set in, and Kurogane scowled deeply and jerked his head away. There were spots of colour, faint but present on his cheeks.

"Yeah," he said. " _Oh_. I couldn't do it. Come on, get it over with."

"Get what over with?" Fai asked, confused, and Kurogane growled.

"The nicknames," he said. "Let me guess, Kuro-limp, Kuro-flop, Kuro -"

"You're obviously not any of those now," Fai pointed out, amused. He pressed his thigh gently against Kurogane's groin, and bit back a grin at his lover's grunt. 

"Yeah, but it's _you_ ," Kurogane said. "I just. With Souma, I couldn't, I - It wasn't working, I tried - I thought about you and it wasn't."

"Oh," Fai breathed, and grinned so wide he thought his face might crack in half.

"... What?" Kurogane said, narrowing his eyes, and Fai bent his head and kissed him again, a long kiss that left both of them slightly breathless. No sooner had they recovered than Fai claimed his lover's mouth for another one, and then a third before Kurogane leaned away from him, looking confused. "What...?"

"You," Fai said happily. "In bed with a beautiful woman, and nothing happens, but five minutes of touch from me and, well." He moved his thigh slightly and grinned as Kurogane moaned. 

"You were jealous," Kurogane said, and Fai paused and then nodded. Leave it to Kurogane to see things clearly even in this state. "You were jealous of _Souma_? Do you know what Amaterasu would do to me if I -"

"Yes, to both. I couldn't help myself," Fai replied truthfully, and ducked his head to kiss his lover again; a longer kiss this time, sweet and hungry and a little bit dirty. Kurogane sighed and turned his head, accepting the contact, and pulled his left arm out from under his head, running it lightly up Fai's bare arm.

"Idiot," he said, but fondly.

"Yeah," Fai said, grinning. He settled down comfortably against Kurogane's side, his heart thumping joyfully in his chest, his mind turning over the basic facts: _he wants me he only wants me just me_. "If you like I can fix you up something to help," he said. "I'm not as good at that sort of thing as the princess, but I don't think you want to bother her with this particular problem."

"Yeah," Kurogane said after a pause while he mulled it over. "I think that'll work."

"Good," Fai said, and shifted his thigh a little, smiling at Kurogane's stifled grunt. He slid his hand under the covers, placing it on Kurogane's chest and inching down. "Maybe I can help with this problem too," he said sweetly, and just when Kurogane's tense features began to relax, added, "After all, it's all I can do for poor Kuro-limp."

"Sometimes I hate you," Kurogane said, through gritted teeth, but he didn't push Fai away as his hand crept south and so Fai took it as a victory.

* * *

Fai makes him wait outside while he finishes up in the shrine, and Ryuuichi is only too happy to obey. He has always loved the view from this house, built atop a gently rolling hill pointing down at the village, and he sits on the edge of the porch with his legs dangling off it, his sword next to him. The air smells different here.

Fai comes out to join him not twenty minutes later, carrying a tray with a bottle of Suwa wine and two glasses. He lifts his eyebrows at this. "I thought dad said you weren't allowed alcohol?" he says. "After the incident with the bull and the net?"

"He did," Fai replies, sitting cross-legged next to him, flicking his waist-length ponytail over his shoulder as he pours the drinks. "He didn't say anything about sharing a drink with you, though, Monkey," he says, grinning. 

Ryuuichi flushes. "I saw a monkey for the first time at Shirasagi," he says. "I never looked anything like that. Did I?"

"Yes," Fai replies without missing a beat, putting the bottle on the porch between them. "Don't worry, Syaoran said it was hereditary. He saw an image of your father growing up."

"Oh," Ryuuichi says, a little mollified. He tries to subtlety glance at his reflection in the polished steel of his sword hilt and then stops when he realizes Fai is watching him do it.

"How is the Princess?" Fai asks and he curls his fingers around his cup of wine and thinks about how to answer.

"She's - she's great," he says. "She's smart - and very pretty, Fai, I didn't know she was going to be pretty."

Fai leans over and peers intently into his face, and Ryuuichi lifts his eyebrows, swaying back a little and staring into his blue and gold eyes. Whatever Fai sees there, he sits back and and takes a sip of his drink, smirking into his wine glass. "So, Monkey, we weren't expecting you until the harvest festival," he says lightly, and Ryuuichi hears what he means: _why are you home_?

"The Princess sent me," he says, and blurts out, "I broke my wrist."

"You what?" Fai looks at him sharply and then reaches out and seizing his sleeve. "I don't see a cast -"

"No, no, I had the healer look at it," Ryuuichi reassures him. "But the Princess said I should take time out until I was sure it was all fixed, so I thought I'd come home a bit early. Um, dad won't mind, will he?" He can't help but look at Fai anxiously; when he left to take on the job of being Tomoyo's guard his father had thrown an arm over his shoulder and told him long stories of staying on shift for three days straight without complaining, or never taking time out. He's not sure what Kurogane's reaction will be to finding him home.

"Why would he?" Fai asks, puzzled.

"He's _dad_ ," he says, hunching down a little. "You should hear the way the other ninja talk about him..."

"Ah," says Fai quietly. "Monkey, your father is... you know him. Do you think he'd blame you for breaking your wrist?"

"Maybe. Depends on how I did it," Ryuuichi mutters cagily, and sighs. Fai is watching him patiently. "... I fell off a horse," he admits. 

"Okay," Fai says calmly. "Well, if Kuro-sama starts being mean, just remember: your dad once tripped on his own untied obi and broke his nose falling off the porch."

"Really?" Ryuuichi breathes, wide-eyed, and Fai grins at him and nods. "Wow, I wouldn't have thought dad would have -"

"He was very drunk," Fai adds. 

"Wow," Ryuuichi breathes, and then pauses. "Wait, why was his obi untied?"

Fai just smiles, and Ryuuichi realizes very quickly that he _does not want to know_. He drains his wine glass and reels as it kicks in; it is much stronger than the wine he had gotten used to at court. 

"Careful," Fai says, amused. "Perhaps you should be the one barred from wine, huh, Monkey?"

"It's Ryuuichi," he says with dignity, attempting to pour himself a second cup and accidentally missing the rim. "I'm too old for nicknames, Fai."

"Yes, I can see that," Fai replies, gently taking the bottle out of his fingers. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"Um. No," he says, thinking about it. Actually he hadn't had dinner last night either, and as if to emphasize this his stomach gives a sad little rumble.

"Alright then, not-Monkey," Fai says with a laugh, "let's get you some food." He goes to stand up and Ryuuichi grabs for his sleeve, curling his fingers in the black fabric tightly.

"Fai," he says plaintively, "will you talk to dad anyway? In case he _is_ mad I came home?"

Fai pauses and looks at him in surprise, and then smiles and gently unhooks Ryuuichi's fingers from his sleeve. "Of course I will," he says. "You shouldn't worry though, Ryuu-chan. Your dad might grumble, but you know he doesn't really mean it. You're his _son_."

"Okay. Okay, thank you," Ryuuichi replies gratefully, and Fai ruffles his hair like he's freaking _twelve_ again and pushes open the door right as he rewinds the blond's remarks and says, "wait, _Ryuu-chan_?"

"Never too old for nicknames~!" Fai reminds him in a singsong voice, and pulls the door closed behind him, laughing.

It's good to be home, Ryuuichi thinks, flopping on his back on the porch and staring up at the overhanging roof. It'd just be better if his stepfather weren't so _embarrassing_.

* * *

He was in the rough plot of land he had claimed as the vegetable garden, sowing the seeds he had brought from the capital, when the man came running out of the house. "Fai-san! Fai-san, where are you?"

"I'm here," Fai called, setting down his tools, and the retainer slid open the door and came out to the porch, looking down at Fai in his garden as he caught his breath. He was wearing a garish yellow yukata and had his two swords sheathed at his hip; Kurogane insisted his men be vigilant, with the house and town still under construction. They had already repelled three packs of demons. "What is it, Sorata-san?" Fai asked politely, sitting back on his knees.

"It's the lord," Sorata said. "The scouts saw his party coming up along the river road. He should be here within the hour."

"I see," Fai said, keeping his face expressionless while his heart thumped with joy in his chest. "Thank you, I need to go wash up. Take some men to form an escort and meet him, please?"

"Sure," Sorata said. He hesitated for a moment, then ducked his head in a strange half-bow and left; once he was gone Fai smiled to himself. None of the settlers here knew quite what to make of him. They knew he was the one who built the shields and kept the town safe, and they respected his skills with bow and blade; he had been leading the demon-hunting parties while Kurogane was back at court hammering out treaties and, with any luck, securing an heir.

One of the maids brought him a cloth and a bowl of hot water. He would have liked to enjoy the services of the newly-constructed bathhouse, but he didn't have the time, and he washed off the earth and sweat in their room, scrubbing at his skin with a bar of cheap fatty soap. The maids had already heard the news; he could hear them rushing around the house to prepare it, no different to the men and women of Suwa's militia drilling frantically in the yard.

He chose a plain short white kimono with matching hakama to greet his lover, his maid tying the obi for him while he sent another runner to the stables to prepare his horse, his mind jittering with impatience. Kurogane had been gone for almost four months, setting up trade treaties and ordering building materials and supplies, and Fai had missed him very much. For that reason, he neglected to wait for Kurogane to come all the way home; once the kimono had been dealt with he stuck his geta on and trotted out to the yard. His horse was waiting, already wearing her tack and trying to sidle away from her handler; she stilled when Fai took her reins.

It took a bit of work to get comfortable in the saddle with the hakama, their wide folds fighting him, but he managed it anyway, his horse shifting underneath him. She had been a gift from Kurogane and she was the fastest mare he had ever ridden, even though she wasn't much to look at. He pointed her in the direction of the river road, setting his heels to her flanks and she took off like an arrow from a bowstring, her hooves kicking up clods of earth as she tore through the village itself.

It didn't take long to see Kurogane's party; it was much larger than the one he had left with, and moving slower. More settlers, Fai thought, tugging lightly back on the reins as he approached. Kurogane was sitting at the front astride a black behemoth of a horse, talking to Sorata; when Fai approached Kurogane raked him over with those cool red eyes and then smiled. 

"Welcome home," Fai said, directing his mare to Kurogane's other side. Sorata pulled his horse back delicately, leaving the two of them alone at the head of the group. "How did it go? Did Souma have the baby?"

"Yeah, and it's a boy," Kurogane said, the corner of his mouth turning up. "He's got red eyes. Nobody can bitch about his legitimacy now. He's in the cart back there with his nurse."

"Sounds like it was a successful trip," Fai said lightly, and Kurogane glanced over at him and nodded.

"How have things been here?"

"Just fine. The new shields are up, we've had three attacks by demons since then. No casualties... on our behalf, anyway," Fai said, craning his neck to look back at the train of people on horseback and foot, the numerous carts trundling down the road.

"Tch, if you want to see him, just say so, idiot," Kurogane said, and leaned over and grabbed his horse's reins, kicking at his warhorse's flanks to double them back through the group. The cart in question was near the end; a man sat on the back with his sword across his lap, wearing Suwa colours and the crescent moon symbol. Behind him sat a woman Fai knew very well, holding a bundle in her arms.

"Que - Nadeshiko-san," Fai said, in surprise. He had met the Queen of Clow several times since Syaoran fixed his mistake, when their journey took them back to Clow. She glanced up at him in surprise, then shot Kurogane a curious look.

"This is Fai," Kurogane said, and that seemed to be enough for her.

"I see Lord Suwa has already told you about me," she said, and Fai flushed. Normally he knew better than to blurt out prior acquaintances to fresh-met doubles.

"She's the kid's nurse," said Kurogane. "Apparently it's bad to give them cow's milk. Who knew?"

"What you don't know about babies could fill volumes," said Fai, although his eyes were on the bundle of cloth in Nadeshiko's lap.

"Like you're much better," Kurogane grumbled, but did not deny it. Nadeshiko smiled gently. "How has he been?"

"He's been very good," she said. "He was a little bit upset when we started out, but he's calmed down now. Do you want to hold him, Fai-san?"

"Me?" Fai blurted, feeling his own eyes widen, and Kurogane grinned at him.

"I... was under the impression you were Lord Suwa's most important person," she said, carefully using the highly polite Japanese that could imply three or four things at once, and Fai glanced at Kurogane, startled. His lover did not look as though this were a surprise.

He climbed onto the cart from horseback, Kurogane holding his mare by her bridle as he did so, and sat down uncomfortably opposite Nadeshiko as she carefully held out the small figure. The baby was a smudge of dark pink skin amidst his wrappings, but he was awake, his eyes a sort of pale pinkish colour. He kind of looked a bit like a monkey, Fai thought.

"His eyes aren't red at all, Kuro-sama," he said with a trace of disappointment. He had always liked the vibrant colour of Kurogane's eyes.

"They get darker as the baby gets older, Fai-san," Nadeshiko corrected gently.

"Now look who doesn't know anything about kids," Kurogane said smugly.

Fai rolled his eyes. "Have you named him yet?"

"No. I'll probably do it when we get back for real," Kurogane said. "I'll probably think of something by then."

"You are not allowed to name him after your sword," Fai said warningly, and Kurogane _tched_ under his breath.

"I wasn't planning on it!" he protested, and for a while there was silence as the train picked up. The unnamed baby in Fai's arms stirred a little, blinking his pink eyes and moving his hands; they were wrapped in small cotton gloves, no doubt to keep him from hurting himself. Fai's eyes tracked over the baby's squashed pink face, his chubby cheeks. He didn't really look anything like either of his parents yet.

"Anyway, what's wrong with naming him after my sword?" Kurogane asked abruptly from where he was riding beside the cart, and Fai smiled. He'd been waiting for that.

"You're terrible at naming things, Kuro-sama," Fai said lightly, and Kurogane scowled at him.

"I'm sure as hell not letting you do it," he said. "You'd name the kid something like 'Littlest puppy-chan'."

"Is Kuro-scowl complaining about my nicknames? He's so _mean_ ~!" Fai singsonged back, as Kurogane was no doubt expecting. They were approaching Suwa town itself, the settlers turning out to meet the new arrivals; he carefully handed the baby back to Nadeshiko, who had been watching their exchange with surprise and no small amount of amusement.

"Idiot," Kurogane said, reining in his horse and holding Fai's steady for him to remount. "Look at what you named this poor horse."

"Cupcake is a perfectly good name," Fai retorted primly, adjusting his hakama folds in the saddle. "Cupcakes are delicious."

"Yeah, but for a _horse_?" Kurogane said, raising his eyebrows, and Fai just grinned at him. "Horses aren't supposed to be delicious!"

"I don't know," Fai replied thoughtfully. "It depends on the seasoning..."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "I don't know why I bother," he said, and then they were in Suwa village and Fai's chance to retort was lost to the swarm of people gathering to speak with Lord Suwa. He sat astride his horse next to the cart, watching his lover as he was swallowed by the crowd of people; _his_ people.

"Well, nameless Kuro-pup," he said, "welcome home."

* * *

"So, what are you going to name him?" Fai asked later, peering over Kurogane's shoulder at the scrunched red figure wrapped in swaddling clothes. Kurogane snorted.

"I don't know. Ryuuichi, maybe. Yeah, that'll do."

Fai's lips moved as he broke the name down into its components. "Dragon number one?" he tried.

"First son of the dragon," Kurogane corrected.

"Kuro-bad, you're supposed to _name_ kids, not number them," Fai groaned in frustration.

* * *

His father is sitting on the porch when Ryuuichi makes his way outside, his sword across his lap and his hands curled around a steaming cup of tea, eyes narrowed as he watches Suwa's militia drilling out in the yard. He doesn't look up when Ryuuichi approaches, but he knows his father is aware of him.

"Hey," he says, uncertainly, hovering near the porch. He's still not sure whether or not he's forgiven.

"Sit down," Kurogane says, without turning his head, and then louder, to the men practicing, "Okay, good enough. Go home."

"They're better than they were when I left," Ryuuichi notes, and his father huffs agreement, although his face is still blank. He takes a long sip of his tea while Ryuuichi stares down at his lap, trying to put his thoughts in order. "Dad -"

"So the princess sent you home," his father says, talking over him with ease. Ryuuichi pauses, collecting his scattered thoughts, and nods. "How long are you staying?"

"Just a few weeks," he says anxiously. "I want to get back to guard duty as soon as I can."

This makes his father turn to regard him at last, the red eyes Ryuuichi inherited studying his face, and Kurogane huffs out a breath, nods. "Good."

"Dad - why didn't you tell me about your days at the palace?" Ryuuichi asks, plunging in headfirst. "They still talk about you, they say you were _amazing_!"

"I'm still amazing," Kurogane replies, with a faint thread of smugness. If Fai were here he'd be saying something sarcastic right about now, but he isn't, he's indoors organizing food, so Ryuuichi just smiles uncertainly and shakes his head.

"Not like - is it true you killed _forty seven_ ninja in one night?" He sounds awed to his own ears, but he can't help it; Kurogane is considered a legend, and all the other guards know his father's name, and it seems so strange to him that he has never heard any of this.

"Who told you that?" Kurogane says sharply.

He bites his lip. "Souma," he admits, and defensively adds, "she's a guard like me, it's not like I'm disrespecting Fai by talking to -"

"Of course you aren't, idiot," Kurogane growls, and he subsides. His father looks down at the tea cup, tiny in his large swordsman's hands, the flesh one scarred with nicks and bruises and calluses, and sighs deeply. "Yeah," he said. "I did kill forty seven people in one night. And more. That doesn't make me impressive."

"It makes you the best warrior ever! You were undefeated," Ryuuichi says hotly, confused by his father's hunched shoulders. "All the other younger guards want to be the next you - why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not something I'm proud of," Kurogane says flatly, and turns to glare at him. "Someday you and your friends will have to kill a man, if you keep doing what you're doing. It won't be easy for you. It shouldn't be easy for anybody."

"Yeah, but not if they were threatening the princess," Ryuuichi says. "I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt her."

Kurogane looks at him for a few seconds, and then sighs, reaches out one arm, and bangs him lightly upside the head with the bottom of the teacup. It doesn't hurt, but Ryuuichi scowls; his dad seems convinced he's twelve again, not seventeen and a proud member of Tomoyo's personal guard.

"Idiot," he says.

"I thought that was Fai," Ryuuichi replies, and that makes his father huff a soft almost-laugh, the corner of his mouth turning up. It's rare for that to happen, and Ryuuichi remembers another thing the veterans had said; _he had a bloodthirsty smile, and you only saw it when he was carving people up._ "I don't get it, dad," he says. "You were a really good guard."

"No," Kurogane says shortly. "I was a really good killer. Do you remember what I told you when I started teaching you swordplay?"

"Um... Don't hold it by the sharp bit?" Ryuuichi hazards, and Kurogane covers his face with his palm and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like _gods help me, he's too much like the wizard_.

"No," his father says out loud, sounding like he's talking through gritted teeth. "The bit _after_ that."

"Oh," Ryuuichi says, comprehension dawning. "Yeah. I said I wanted to be a... um, a really good swordsman -" 

"You said you wanted to be the best warrior in Nihon," his father reminds him with the ruthless ability to dredge up embarrassing childhood moments that all parents possess. "You said you were going to grow up to be so powerful the blacksmith's son would be begging you to teach him how to fight."

"Yeah, okay," Ryuuichi says, flushing, his father's words refreshing the memory. He'd hated the blacksmith's son growing up. "Anyway - you said that if I was going to learn how to use a sword, I needed to be learning it for someone else, right? To protect someone, or guard them. But I _am_ a guard now, so..."

"When I killed, it was for me," Kurogane says quietly, sounding pensive. He looks out across the dusty training yard, over the green of Suwa province, the gently rolling hills and creeping forest. "I killed people because I wanted to be strong. I wasn't even doing it to keep the princess safe; I'd follow injured opponents if they were running away to score the final blow, I'd keep fighting after they tried to surrender, I took no prisoners. I wasn't amazing. I was a thug who didn't understand anything.

"It took me years to understand what I was missing," he says, holding his left hand out before him, fingers splayed and palm displayed, "and when I did, I didn't care so much about mindless violence. Your friends are idiots."

"Oh. Is this the part where you talk about how much you love Fai without ever actually saying the word love?" Ryuuichi says, pulling a face. It's not really a question.

"Brat," Kurogane says, rolling his eyes but does not, Ryuuichi notes, deny it. "It was _Syaoran_ who showed me what it was to fight to protect something. _Fai_ taught me the consequences of lying to yourself."

"You've got that gross look on your face, dad," Ryuuichi says, scowling. His parents are so _embarrassing_ when they get all sentimental, it's really hard to watch. They have no respect for his boundaries.

"Tch." Kurogane leans over and shoves at his shoulder, grinning savagely. "You think so, hmm? Go get your sword and come back here, I think it's time I checked how soft you've gotten since you left."

" _Dad_!"

"What? You were the one talking about how 'amazing' I used to be," Kurogane says with a feral little smile. Grumbling, Ryuuichi climbs to his feet; Kurogane watches him go and then huffs out a breath. "Kid," he says, and pauses. "Just. Remember who it is you're fighting for."

Ryuuichi thinks of the princess, her dark hair falling across her back as she sits with poise and dignity. He thinks of the way she squints when she stays up late reading, the scent of incense impregnated in her robes, ink smeared over her fingers and the wry light to her bright, clear eyes, and flushes. 

He doesn't think that'll be a problem.

* * *

Ryuuichi was five years old by the time Suwa village construction was at a state Kurogane considered near enough to completion, although by then more settlers were pouring in all the time. Rumors of the young lord's prowess with the blade and the tight warding shields had spread throughout the land, it seemed to Kurogane every day a new family came down the well-patrolled roads, their possessions heaped in carts or on the backs of animals or on their own shoulders, grimly staring forward at the new life they meant to build. 

Suwa still wasn't much to look at. A good half its houses were temporary ones, but it had all the essential buildings up already, and a thriving mercantile community. The vineyards were still not what he considered ready, but they were drawing closer every day. The large river enabled supplies to travel quickly back and forth by boat, and Kurogane's armed militia kept the roads safe out beyond the shields. 

Fai had set up a small piece of magic far out of Suwa village itself in a deserted field, that emitted a pulse of magic that attracted demons, keeping them clear of the town. Kurogane liked to think of it as a mousetrap, for he and his men killed any demon stupid enough to be drawn toward the puling sphere of magic. 

Indeed, according to Fai, the only thing Suwa was really missing was a cause for celebration, and he got it one fine day in spring. Sorata of the horrible yellow kimono had been making moon eyes at a young seamstress for ages, and neither Fai nor Kurogane were particular surprised when they met her and found her to be a double of Hanshin Sorata's wife. When she agreed to marry him it shocked the other inhabitants of the village, but Fai merely looked over at Kurogane and lifted his eyebrows in sarcastic surprise before having to bolt across the room to stop Ryuuichi toddling right off the dais.

Normally in small villages wedding ceremonies were rare and far between; the rule of muko-iri meant that marriages involved potential grooms joining their wives' families, only to have a household of their own upon the death of the groom's parents or the birth of a child. Sorata and Arashi had no parents, but they simply built their own home, set a date for the wedding in the temple, and invited the whole village to what Arashi said would be a decent enough party and Sorata said would be a drunken hedonistic free for all.

Kurogane suspected he hadn't run that statement past his future wife before he made it.

Still, as Suwa's lord he would attend, and Fai was besides himself with glee. He spent most of the preceding week helping the happy couple design their outfits, and hired tailors to come and poke his own family rather mercilessly with pins; Ryuuichi was fitted for and stuffed into a miniature formal kimono, complete with a tiny haori with a dragon embroidered on the back. Kurogane ended up with a full-sized version, while Fai, the dirty rotten cheater, simply broke out one of the furisodes Tomoyo had made for him, the one with the twining dragon and phoenix design that made Kurogane want him like no other item of clothing he owned.

"Stop it, Kuro-unpunctual," Fai said, when Kurogane trapped him in a corner of their bedroom after walking in and seeing him getting ready. His hair was neatly twisted up in a style that was half informal and half formal; Kurogane pulled out the pins holding it up and watched it fall across his shoulders. Fai grumbled, making a grab for the pins and pulling them out of Kurogane's hand. "We're going to be _late_."

"No we're not. We've still got time," Kurogane murmured, ducking his head down to kiss his lover, and Fai gave in like he always did, despite his mock-protests.

Ryuuichi was with his nurse waiting for them out front when they emerged, Kurogane unable to keep the smirk off his face and Fai's cheeks still slightly pink. Nadeshiko gave him a _look_ that reminded him uncannily of his mother, and he looked away in embarrassment while Fai cooed over Ryuuichi's outfit and bent down to pick him up, hefting the kid against his shoulder. Ryuuichi showed his appreciation for this by pulling out Fai's hairpins too, and Kurogane nodded at his son approvingly. Fai's hair was better loose or tied in a ponytail.

The whole village had gathered on the street outside the temple, dressed in whatever passed for their best for each family. Children were running around between the adults, playing violent loud children's games; Ryuuichi began to tug at Fai's hand as soon as he saw them and Fai let him go immediately, calling after him not to hit the other children with sticks while yelling the name of his father's ki attacks... again.

Kurogane picked out a spot for them close enough everyone could see him and he had a good view of the proceedings. The temple had set out chairs; chairs borrowed from every house in the village, Kurogane knew, and not by guesswork - he had already lent the ones in his home. Fai sat next to him with precision, folding his furisode's sleeves demurely in his lap.

"It starts at midday, right, Kuro-sama?" he said.

"Yeah, should do," Kurogane said. Near as he could tell from the angle of the sun they still had a half-hour to go. The air was thick with dozens of scents; enterprising vendors selling food, incense burning, body odor and perfume. The food seemed to include a fair amount of fish, and Fai delicately wrinkled his nose and hid his face in his hand.

"Excuse me, Lord Flowright," said a woman, bending over them, and Kurogane looked up sharply. She was holding out a scrap of cloth. "Here, try this. It's perfumed."

"Thank you, Sayuki," Fai said gratefully, accepting it, and she smiled at him with a hint of teeth before heading back into the crowd. Kurogane watched her go in some bewilderment.

"She's the carpenter's daughter," Fai said, as if sensing his thoughts. "She grows the best radishes in the village, she talks to me about seeds."

"Radishes?" Kurogane said, in surprise, and Fai grinned at him behind the perfumed cloth.

"I like growing things," he said. "You bond with your people through demonslaying, I... have other ways."

"She called you 'Lord Flowright,'" Kurogane said slowly. 

"Yeah," Fai said. "A lot of them do. They know who I am to you, Kuro-sama, this is their way of acknowledging what I am to them."

"Huh," Kurogane grunted, oddly touched on his lover's behalf.

The ceremony started about the same time Ryuuichi came and found them in the crowd, clutching a stick tightly in his fist; he looked tired and Fai pulled over an empty chair between them and helped him climb onto it.

The wedding itself was alright, Kurogane supposed, if you were into that kind of thing. Sorata looked happy enough to explode, and even Arashi was smiling slightly. For her that was like dancing through the streets. Fai sat and watched it with wide eyes as Ryuuichi began to list heavily toward his lover's side, his eyes drifting closed, and Kurogane let him go, leaning back in his chair and hopefully eyeing the big caskets of booze waiting for the end of the wedding to be opened. He didn't know where Sorata had found the money for them, but he appreciated the gesture.

"This isn't so different to the weddings I used to go to in Ceres," Fai said quietly, toward the end. He leaned back in his chair, gently so as to not dislodge Ryuuichi, who had tired himself out and was curled up half-against his lap, sound asleep, his sword-stroke-stick clutched firmly in one chubby hand. Fai was stroking the kid's hair absently, and Kurogane wondered if he even knew he was doing it.

"How did they go?" he said.

"Well, we didn't need a third party," Fai said, gesturing at the monk. "A couple proposed by presenting each other with ribbons, a colour for each partner. On the solstice they'd meet up outside, with family or friends if they wanted, and they'd braid their ribbons together to make one, see? And then they'd hold their hands and tie the braid around their hands, joining them together, and they'd say something to each other."

"What thing?" Kurogane asked curiously.

"Oh, the reasons why they loved each other, vows, whatever. It was different from couple to couple." Fai dismissed this with a handwave. "After that they would cut the braided ribbon in half and tie each half into a bracelet around each other's left wrist, because the left side is - was - supposed to be closer to the heart. And then there would be booze~!"

"Why am I not surprised the booze was your favorite part of the whole thing," Kurogane said with a groan.

"Oh," Fai said, and smiled wistfully. His fingertips kept carding through Ryuuichi's hair. "The booze wasn't my favorite." 

"It wasn't?" Kurogane said, eyeing him, and Fai blinked and smiled again.

"It doesn't matter," he said, and Kurogane knew he meant it. He hadn't seen the stupid false smile his lover used to hide behind since the world of the acidic rain, all those years ago. The man sitting next to him with his son curled asleep against his side was a different creature entirely. "We should go see the happy couple and get toasted, Kuro-sama," Fai said brightly, bending over to shake Ryuuichi awake gently, and Kurogane frowned.

"Don't you mean 'toast the happy couple'," he said.

"Either one works for me~!" Fai said, with a laugh, climbing to his feet. Sorata and Arashi were standing by the caskets holding hands; Fai seized Kurogane's sleeve and tugged on it gently, pulling him to his feet, and on impulse Kurogane's hand shot out, his fingers braceletting Fai's left wrist.

"Hey," he said, staring down at his lover, unsure what to say. Fai answered it for him by standing on the balls of his feet and claiming a light kiss from him, then whisked out of Kurogane's grip, wrapping both arms around Ryuuichi, who was making grumpy noises about being woken up.

"I'm fine, Kuro-sama," he said, and Kurogane looked into his odd coloured eyes and knew he was, at heart. For maybe the first time. Whatever had caused that wistful smile, it was an old scar, something unnecessary and swiftly forgotten.

"Tch. Okay then," he said, but when they walked to greet the newly weds he offered Fai his hand in a rare public display of affection, and pretended not to notice when Fai laced their fingers together.

Old scars never went away, but they faded. He knew that better than most.

* * *

Kurogane was loading his saddlebags when Fai stormed into their room, and the set of his shoulders said he knew what was coming. Fai had to fight down the urge to throw something at him. "You can't go," he said, immediately.

"Yeah I can," said Kurogane. "I have to, if we want these so-called bandit attacks to stop."

"You should send his envoy back with a message telling him where to stick his so-called peace treaty!" Fai snapped. "Kuro-sama, how can you - he's a cruel, vicious little man, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if this diplomatic visit was a precursor to an assassination attempt!"

Kurogane sighed and stuffed the last item into the saddlebag; a camping knife. "Me either, wizard," he said. "I'm the lord here, though. This is what I'm supposed to do."

"Then take me with you," Fai snarled. "I can defend you - we fought side by side for years, don't leave me here. I'm your partner, not your wife!"

"I know that," Kurogane said sharply. "I'm not leaving you here because I don't want you, wizard." He threw his saddlebags over his shoulder and made to leave; Fai quickly stepped in front of him.

"He's going to kill you," he said quietly. "Let me come with you, we can look out for each other. Kuro-sama, if I lose you I -" He broke off and swallowed, biting his lip. "Let someone else go," he continued. "Ryuuichi's only six, Kuro-sama, you can't deprive him of his father."

"Don't start that," Kurogane said coldly, his face darkening, and pushed past him. Fai followed him out into the hall, grabbed at his shoulder; his fingers tightened into the synthetic covering over the artificial one, and Kurogane stopped and sighed, turning to look back at him. "If it's an assassination attempt," he said, "I'd be sending my men to die. When have I ever let that happen?"

"I know," Fai agreed, lowering his eyes. "But - let me come with you, Kuro-sama, please."

"Tch," Kurogane said, and reached out with his real hand, touching Fai's jaw and angling his face up. "I want you to stay here to protect the village, okay? If this is an assassination attempt, well, I'm armed, I can probably escape. But if the whole peace treaty thing is just a decoy? If that bastard tries to move on Suwa with his army? Wizard, _you_ have to protect them."

Fai blinked at him in surprise. It had not occurred to him that Kurogane could be so _tactical_ , and some of that must have showed on his face, because Kurogane's mouth curled upward in his slasher smile and he said, "Don't look so surprised."

"Sorry," Fai said, and leaned forward, kissing his lover quickly, a light dry peck on the lips. "You need to come back safely, Kuro-tan," he said quietly, running his fingertips down the muscles of Kurogane's free arm. "Do that, okay?"

"Of course I will," Kurogane scoffed, pulling away from him with some reluctance. "Look, I'll be back by noon tomorrow. Make sure the shields are up."

"Of course I will," Fai echoed softly, watching his lover make his way down the corridor to his waiting escort, and pressed his hand to his chest, over the thudding of his heart.

He spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the porch, the accountancy scrolls laying forgotten in his lap. In Kurogane's absence the house staff and the villagers came to him for instructions and guidance, and once the sun went down he took Ryuuichi patiently through his arithmetic lessons, scratching lines in the dirt to showcase numbers. The kid was discovering how to multiply, and he was very good at it given sufficient motivation; much like his father, in that regard. 

"So, if you have three lots of swordsmen to your left, and three behind you, and three to your right, how many swordsmen is that?" he asked, doodling a quick sketch of a small figure clutching a sword surrounded by big figures clutching lots of swords.

"Nine," Ryuuichi said, studying the diagram. "A _chi ryuu en bu_ would get them all at once, though."

Fai grinned despite himself, and Ryuuichi looked at him thoughtfully. "That's the first time you smiled since dad left," he said.

"It is?" 

"Yes, it is," Ryuuichi said firmly. "Are you worried about him?"

Fai looked at those red eyes for a few seconds, and then nodded. He tried not to lie to Ryuuichi. "Yes," he said. "I'm worried about the man he's gone to see, Lord Sakurazukamori. He isn't supposed to be a very nice man."

Ryuuichi looked down at the drawing of the small figure, surrounded by bristling armed men. "It's okay," he said, taking Fai's stick from him. "Look! _Chi ryuu en bu_!" He drew spirals out from the small figure, erasing the menacing dirt figures, and then handed the stick back. "See? Dad is _dad_."

"Your father isn't invulnerable, Monkey," Fai said gently, but Ryuuichi rolled his eyes.

"They won't kill him," he said. " _Duh_. He'll escape their trap and come back here. And then you and him will go back and kill them all!"

"We will?" Fai asked, startled, but Ryuuichi nodded firmly.

"It's what you do," he said. "The two of you." He jumped off the porch and made his way over to the drawing, the spiraled out enemy ninja and the small figure with the sword, and used his finger to draw another figure next to it. "See? That's dad, with his sword, and that's you, with your silly ponytail."

"Hey," Fai protested, but angling his head, staring down at the little stick figures. "You drew me taller than your dad," he said.

Ryuuichi squinted down at his creation, and then bent over and rubbed away half of Fai's legs. "There," he said, "all fixed."

"Now you've cut half my legs off," Fai said mournfully, and Ryuuichi wrinkled his nose at him. 

"Dad says the reason why you're so skinny is because everything you eat goes straight to your legs," he said seriously. "So maybe if you shortened them you'd look less like a mop."

Fai laughed despite himself at that, patting the porch next to him. Kurogane's son scrambled back up and flopped against him.

"It's almost your bedtime, Monkey," he said gently. "Can you put yourself to bed or do you want Fumi or Nadeshiko to come help you?"

"Why can't you do it?" Ryuuichi asked, and Fai paused and sighed.

"I'm waiting for your dad to come home," he said, looking out over the horizon, and Ryuuichi paused.

"... Can't I wait with you?" he asked, and Fai shook his head.

"Your dad wouldn't like it," he said. "Go to bed."

Ryuuichi went, grumbling. Not long after he had gone the door slid open and the maid stepped out, executing him a formal bow. "Lord Flowright, can I get you something to eat?" she said, and he smiled to himself. _Lord Flowright_. 

"No thank you, Fumi," he said, "but if you could fetch some tea I would appreciate it. Black tea, if we have any left."

"Of course, sir," she said, although he could hear her reservations in her voice. She always thought he didn't eat enough to be so skinny, and skipping dinner would not change her mind in that regard.

She fetched him his tea in their third-best pot and fifth-best cup as well, he noted, as a bowl of sweet biscuits she knew he had some fondness for. He sat out on the porch eating them as dusk truly slipped away, the night crickets chirping at him hopefully. It was a fine night, a good night, and if things were better he would be able to appreciate it.

The door opened again as he was finishing off the pot, and he turned in surprise to see Ryuuichi standing there blinking at him sleepily, his skinny legs sticking out of the bottom of his cotton jinbei. "Monkey," he said. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I'm not allowed to stay up late," said Ryuuichi. "I don't think you should either. Dad would yell at you if you were here."

"I'm sure he would," Fai said.

"You know he's not going to die, right?" Ryuuichi said sharply. "He's my _dad_. He won't die while you're around."

Fai sighed. "I wish it worked that way." 

"It does! He makes those... squishy faces at you," Ryuuichi told him, pulling a face, and Fai hid his smile in his shoulder. He was fairly sure Ryuuichi was the only person in the whole world who thought Kurogane was too physically affectionate. "Stop being an idiot and go to bed," Ryuuichi said severely, scowling at him, and Fai realized the kid was old enough now that he could see Kurogane's features in his face, hidden as they were under the puppy fat. It was a surprisingly revelation.

"You're a lot like your father," he commented.

"Of course I am, he's my dad," Ryuuichi said, frowning at him disapprovingly. "But Fai is my dad too."

"I am?" Fai said blankly, and Ryuuichi nodded enthusiastically.

Fai turned to face him fully, raising an eyebrow, and Kurogane's son - their son - raised a small pudgy hand and caught hold of his ponytail, twisting his fingers into it. He hadn't done that since he was a toddler. "Dad will be fine," Ryuuichi said, making eye contact, and then added, nervously, "... won't he?"

Fai froze, sensing the need for comfort in that tone, and then forced himself to relax. "Of course he will," he said. "You just told me why." He held out his arms and his son came to him, climbing into his lap, winding his arms tightly around Fai's neck, and he had a sudden vision of his first few years in Ceres, seeking comfort from Ashura this way. He hugged Ryuuichi back tightly, burying his face in his son's unruly hair.

"I'm going to bed," he said, and, gently, "do you want to come with me, Monkey?"

"Yeah," said Ryuuichi. 

He had to carry the kid to the bedroom he shared with his father, Ryuuichi's skinny form already quite heavy. He lay down in the futon he and Kurogane shared, the scent of them rich on the sheets, Ryuuichi tucked into the crook of his arm. His son fell asleep quickly, drawing comfort from his presence, but Fai stayed awake a little longer, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn't intended to fall asleep, but he hadn't slept like this for ages, curled next to a family member he loved and trusted. Not since his uncle had taken Fai away from him.

It was a good feeling. He had dozed off before he knew it.

* * *

Fai was woken by Ryuuichi jumping rather unceremoniously on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs and forcing a rather ungraceful _woof!_ noise from his chest.

"Fai, Fai, dad said you had to get up!" Ryuuichi said, perched on his lower back and seemingly composed entirely of pointy bits. Fai blinked rapidly, fighting off disorientation and his instinctive reaction to fight back. The kid was _heavy_.

"Monkey, you're far too old to do that now," he said weakly instead, rolling over and spilling the boy off him. Ryuuichi was wearing a comfortable black hakama, and his red eyes were bright with mischief, his unruly dark hair sticking up every which way. At nine years old he looked rather too like a miniature version of his father. 

"I am _not_!" the kid said indignantly, poking him in the side. "Fai, come on, dad said it was urgent."

"What's wrong?" Fai asked, coming fully awake. He pushed himself out from between the covers of the futon, his heartbeat picking up.

"I can't tell you," said Ryuuichi smugly. "It's a _secret_."

"I see," Fai said dryly. "It's not dangerous-urgent, then."

"No. But it is a _secret_ and I can keep secrets!"

"Liar," Fai said, opening the chest that contained his clothing. "Just last week you told me all about the blacksmith's love poetry."

"That wasn't a secret! It was just embarrassing. I don't see what's so special about kissing anyway. No, Fai, not that, dad said to tell you to put on the furisode."

"He did?" Fai asked, eyeing his son curiously, and Ryuuichi nodded energetically. With a sigh he put the yukata he had picked out back into the chest and reached for the wrapped packages containing his three furisodes; they were so delicate and intricate he only really wore them on formal occasions, or to tease Kurogane. "Did he say which one?"

Ryuuichi shook his head, so Fai chose his favorite, the blue one Tomoyo had given him before he left Suwa, the dragon and phoenix designs picked out beautifully in gold. It was Kurogane's favorite, too. Fai had probably had more sex in this furisode than in any other piece of clothing he owned.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me what Kuro-sama is planning?" he asked, crooking an eyebrow, and Ryuuichi grinned and shook his head.

"He said if I told you he would hang me upside down by my ankles," he said.

"He says that a lot," Fai reminded the boy, carefully undoing the wrapping. 

"That one's pretty," Ryuuichi said as he put it on, and his son came to him and helped him tie the sash when he was done. Fai smoothed his hands down the front of the furisode, checking to make sure it hung right with no lines or creases to block its design. "Now come on! Come quick!"

"Just a - Monkey, slow down," Fai replied, laughing, as he tried to slip his sandals on while his son seemed intent on dragging him out the room by his sleeve. Ryuuichi had inherited his father's intimidating height and was very tall for a nine-year-old, but he still barely met Fai's chest.

Ryuuichi dragged him to his vegetable garden, which was in bloom at this time of year. Kurogane was sitting on the porch wearing a semi-formal kimono, and he wasn't alone; he was sharing a bottle of amazake with, of all people, Syaoran.

"Fai," Syaoran said, his expression lighting up. Mokona was on his shoulder; when she saw Fai she squealed and launched herself at his face. He caught her out of instinct.

"Fai-san looks amazing today!" she said.

"Thank you," Fai replied, a little flustered. "When did you two get here?"

"A few hours ago," said Syaoran, smiling, and Fai leveled a glare at Kurogane. Their first son had been here for that long and he had let Fai sleep?

"Kuro-sama," he said. "What -"

Kurogane put down the cup and stood up, and Fai realized he looked _embarrassed_. He had that adorable flush to his cheeks that Fai rarely saw nowadays.

"I know you said it usually happens on the solstice," he said awkwardly. "But I thought maybe it would be better with the kid and the pork bun here."

"What -" Fai started to say, and then stopped, because Kurogane had produced two lengths of silk ribbon from his sleeve, one in blue and one in red. "Oh," Fai said, blankly. Kurogane held out the blue ribbon.

"Here," he said, and Fai took it numbly.

"You remembered," he said. "All those years ago, you remembered."

Kurogane snorted, rolling his eyes. "It was only four, dumbass," he said. "You going to uh, do it or what?"

"Fai and Kurogane, sitting in a tree, m-a-r-r-i -" Mokona sang, but Syaoran put a hand over her mouth to shut her up as Fai reached out dreamily and clasped Kurogane's hand, raising his other to inscribe the glowing runes in the air. The ribbons came to life like snakes, just as they had at the Ceresian wedding he had seen, twisting together to form one long braided length, and wrapped itself around their conjoined hands.

"You're an idiot," Kurogane said. "But you're my idiot."

Fai found he was grinning so wide he didn't know if he could speak. Kurogane's expression still had a trace of that awkwardness, but he still looked so very serious. "And you're hopeless," he said, his voice scraping and rough. "But you're my kind of hopeless, Kuro-sama."

"You two are _gross_ ," Ryuuichi said, startling a laugh out of Fai. Syaoran had pulled something out of his pocket - a camera, he realized, emblazoned with the Piffle Princess logo.

"For Sakura," he said, smiling, and took a picture.

"Take one for Watanuki too!" Mokona suggested. "And for your parents, and for everyone else we met!"

"I don't think there's enough space for all of them," Syaoran said to her, with a wry grin. "Not since you stole it and filled up the memory card with photos of Miyuki-chan in Wonderland."

"What's a memory card?" Ryuuichi wanted to know. "And a Miyuki-chan in Wonderland?"

"Something for adults," Fai replied smoothly. "I'm sure Syaoran will be able to show you when you're older, Monkey."

He drew more runes in the air with his fingertips, completing the ritual; the braided cord severed in two, and he gave half back to Kurogane, keeping half for himself. "Normally we tie them on the left wrist," he said, as he looped the cord around Kurogane's right, tying it deftly. The taller man was watching him thoughtfully through red eyes. "As a bracelet, I mean, to serve as a reminder against skin. I'm the last Ceresian alive, however, so I say we switch wrists. Nobody can tell me I'm doing it wrong!"

"Idiot," Kurogane said, but fondly. His large fingers were surprisingly dexterous as he fastened the slim braid around Fai's own right wrist, the red shockingly bright against his pale skin, and then he stepped closer and gently touched two fingers under Fai's jaw, angling his face up for a kiss. 

Fai met him willingly. He had never liked to be overly physically affectionate with Kurogane in front of Syaoran during their travels - he had always thought it disrespectful given the boy's distance from his own love - but he felt he could be forgiven, for this.

"They do this _all the time_ ," he heard Ryuuichi telling Syaoran behind Kurogane's back, sounding aggrieved, and Syaoran made a sympathetic noise.

"Fai-mommy and Kuro-daddy are gross," agreed Mokona.

"Shut up, kids," Kurogane growled, and Fai laughed and looped his arms around his shoulders, pulling his mate down for another kiss. The sun was bright and the air was fresh with the scent of spring; Kurogane's mouth was hot and familiar, sweet with the faint taste of the amazake he had been drinking.

It was shaping up to be a wonderful day.

* * *

Fai is sitting before the shrine resetting the shields when Kurogane enters, his hands folded in his lap and his eyes closed. Kurogane leans quietly against the door, watching him with unabashed appreciation; time has been slow touching them both, the vampiric bond stretching the years out for their body clocks, but there are signs here and there, greys in his own hair, the beginnings of crow's feet at the edges of Fai's eyes. 

"I can feel you staring, Kuro-sama," Fai says, not moving. "I'm almost done."

"Okay," Kurogane says, crossing his arms over his chest, and waits until Fai finally opens his eyes and stands, gracefully in his yukata as though he were born to these clothes. "Everything okay?"

"Yes. I refreshed the bait, just in case, but I'm telling you, the decreasing number of demons isn't because the bait is too weak," Fai says, as they walk quietly to the porch. Kurogane snorts, but Fai casts him an amused glance out of the corner of his eye, his mouth crooked and his eyelashes as pale as his hair. "It's because you've killed most of them. You're too good at what you do, Kuro-sama," he adds.

"No such thing," Kurogane says briskly, taking a seat on the edge with his legs crossed, Fai sitting down next to him with his long legs hanging off the lip of the porch and his hands on the wood, stretched back. One of the maids comes up, and he sends her for something to eat and drink; Fai missed breakfast with them, too busy setting the shields, and he'll probably forget he hasn't eaten until he's starving if Kurogane doesn't do something about it. 

"He's coming along well," Fai says quietly, as they wait for the maid to return, and Kurogane shoots him a sharp look, questioning. "Little monkey," he clarifies, and Kurogane nods.

"He's still got a lot to learn," he says, remembering his conversation with his son earlier that day. 

"Well, who doesn't - oh, thank you, Fumi," Fai replies, shooting the maid a brilliant smile as she hastily puts down a bowl of steaming miso soup, the scent wafting in the air, and a jug of sake with two cups. Kurogane lifts an eyebrow at that, but Fai ignores him, pouring them both a generous measure.

"You don't have the alcohol tolerance you used to," he reminds the wizard.

"Only because you've cruelly denied me the opportunity to build it up," Fai replies, tucking into the soup, and Kurogane lets it rest as he curls his fingers around his cup. They are sitting on the edge of the building overlooking the village, and the land seems impossibly bright in the afternoon sun.

For a while he sits in silence as Fai wolfs down his food, content with the view and the company. Most of the time he forgets, lets it become routine, but sometimes it hits him in full, that he is _here_ and _home_. The bracelet around his wrist feels warm, although it's probably the effect of the sunlight. Ryuuichi is seventeen, older now than Kurogane was when Suwa burnt all those years ago. _He's_ older than his father lived to be.

"Kuro-sama has a brooding expression," Fai notes quietly. Kurogane turns to look at him, in his white and blue and _old_ yukata, his long pale hair spilling over his shoulder, his blue and gold eyes soft and sure and fixed on Kurogane's face.

"I'm not brooding. I'm _thinking_ ," he says, and Fai laughs quietly, and Kurogane leans over and kisses him. If he can't kiss his wizard in the comfort of his own damn home he doesn't know where else he can. It's not a forceful kiss, although there was a time when that was the default; coming together desperate and needing, less kissing and more fighting, biting and sucking and leaving each other breathless. It's not even a hungry kiss, both of them crazy with the flush of fresh love, needing each other _nownownow_. It's just a slow meeting of mouths, a reassurance: _I am still here_.

"Okay," Fai says when they part, quirking his eyebrow. "Thinking about what?"

Kurogane doesn't answer for a little while, although he realizes he has raised his artificial arm without thinking to toy with the bracelet around his flesh wrist, the braided red and blue still vibrant despite this many years. "The kid," he says.

"Little monkey?" Fai tilts his head. "Yes. He seems to be doing okay at the palace. He's made friends there. It seems like he's growing up."

Kurogane snorts. "Yeah, well. That's up for discussion. Did you know he has a crush on someone there?"

"Yes," Fai says slowly. " _I_ knew that, because he told me, but how did you...?"

"His body language. We were talking about reasons to wield a sword. He thinks he's very subtle."

"He's a teenage boy, Kuro-sama," Fai says, laughing. "He just thinks we're idiots, is all."

"Tch," Kurogane growls. "I should have taught him better."

"Did he tell you who his crush is on?" Fai asks sweetly, and Kurogane shakes his head, taking a sip of sake. Naturally, Fai waits until he has a mouthful before helpfully continuing, "Our little monkey is in love with Princess Tomoyo~!"

Kurogane manages to spray the sake right into an acacia bush, and Fai throws his head back, roaring with laughter.

"It's not funny, idiot!" Kurogane snarls, which has exactly zero effect on his wizard. "She's three times his age!"

"But she _looks_ like she's his age," Fai counters.

"Yeah, and she'll be looking that way when he's in his thirties," Kurogane growls, and Fai finally stops laughing and _looks_ at him, although a smile is still playing at the corners of his mouth.

"We can't help who we fall for, Kuro-sama," he says softly. "I have a feeling she's about to break his heart. Knowing her, that's why she sent him home: so he can remember his family will be there for him."

"Tch. I should go talk with him."

"And say what? He's a teenage boy, you can't tell him who to fall for. Besides," Fai says, and his mouth twists upward in a sad almost-smile that Kurogane knows from experience means he is thinking about something from Ceres or before, "sometimes a heart has to be broken in before it can be used."

"Was yours?" Kurogane asks quietly, and Fai's gaze snaps to him and he smiles like a sunbeam, bright and focused.

"A thousand times," he says. "But that's not the life we made for our son, is it?"

"No," Kurogane agrees quietly, remembering his parents, Syaoran in the rain, Ashura lying dead in his own blood. He reaches over and takes Fai's right hand, his fingertips brushing the bracelet. They are old and scarred and he never in a million years thought he would make it this far. "It's not the life we make for each other, either," he says, hesitantly, sounding out the words as he says them. He's never been very good at this sort of thing. 

"No more heartbreaks," he says. "Not for us."

"Why, Kuro-romantic," Fai retorts, batting his eyelashes. "Does that mean we earned our happy ending?"

"No. It's not over yet," Kurogane says, and grins, light and warm the way only Fai can make him. "We're just getting started."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm copying a lot of my older fic over to AO3 at last, so - written in 2011, uploaded in 2019! It's always fun to see where you come from. ♥


End file.
